Airport Lounge Review: American Express Centurion Lounge, Mexico City

American Express offers a series of airport lounges in the US, as well as a few outside of the US, which are complimentary for certain cardholders, including American Express Platinum cardholders. Since I have the American Express Platinum, I enjoy free access to these lounges. I first experienced a Centurion Lounge in Buenos Aries Ezeiza Airport (EZE), and have been a bit obsessed ever since. The Centurion Lounges in the US are rumored to be much nicer than the international lounges, but I, unfortunately, have not visited enough of these lounges to make a firm decision.

A new Centurion Lounge!

When we flew out of Mexico City earlier this year, we had the opportunity to use one of the three (!) Centurion Lounge in the Mexico City International Airport. The particular Centurion Lounge that I used is located airside in the “International Area”, not too far from the gates, and, at the time of writing this, its temporarily closed. The entrance is marked with easy to find signs and automatically closing doors. Unlike a lot of airport lounges, this lounge is quite easy to find.

Looking at the entrance.

The Set Up

This American Express Centurion Lounge is set up in what I would describe as two main rooms. The room closest to the entrance consists of a few chairs with side tables, a few high top tables, a side bar, and an actual bar, as well as a very small handful of these very cute seats.

Cute seating.

Room # 1.

More of room #1.

The bar.

The second room of this American Express Centurion Lounge consists entirely of tired leather chairs, separated by a few dinky end tables. Not the nicest of lounges…it reminded me of the KAL Lounge at JFK (New York).

Room #2.

More of room #2.

The Food

In an interesting twist for a lounge owned by American Express, food is not complimentary at this Centurion Lounge. Instead, there is a menu and patrons can order meals à la carte. Aside from this menu, there is no complimentary of any kind in this lounge. However, I presume in a bid not to upset customers paying hundreds of dollars a year for their card (i.e. this girl), American Express handed these little cards when I visited, entitling the holder to a complimentary two course meals, with multiple options for each course. The cards were seemingly given out to every patron who entered.

Meal card.

I cannot recall all of the options, but when I visited, I ordered the chicken noodle soup as my first course and the Margherita pizza as my second course. The chicken soup was surprisingly good and filling. I could have just eaten that. The pizza was just ok; I guess that is to be expected when ordering pizza in a Mexico airport. In any case, the two courses were a lot of food, came out quickly, and filled the need for a snack pre-boarding.

Chicken soup.

Margherita pizza.

The Drinks

Unlike the food, the drinks were all complimentary and unlimited and the American Express Centurion Lounge Mexico City offered a decent selection of beer, wines, and mixed drinks. Since we were in Mexico, I enjoyed another glass or two of Mexico’s own red wine, which I discovered on this trip! Serving the somewhat hard to find Mexican wine was a nice touch in the lounge. Other wines were also available, as was sparkling wine. Ordered took place at the bar or via individual servers who were walking around.

Sparkling wine – no flutes.

Other Amenities

In addition to food, drink, and a general respite from the general public, the lounge offered good wifi, lots of outlet plugs, some magazines, a departure screen, and several large TVs playing soccer. Surprisingly, the American Express Centurion Lounge in Mexico City does not offer restrooms or showers….which is rather annoying.

Wifi worked well.

Soccer match.

Departures.

Summary

The Mexico City American Express Centurion Lounge was a bit crowded for my taste, but theres really nothing that can be done about that. The furniture seemed a bit dated, as did the decor. That being said, the two course meal was a really nice touch, as was the free alcohol. In addition, the wifi worked well and there were numerous electric outlets throughout the lounge. However, if there were no complimentary food at the lounge, I would have been very disappointed, especially given the other lounges in Mexico City International. All in all, this was not one of my favorite lounges, but I was glad that I got to try it. If you are here for a short wait and are looking for food, I actually recommend the Grand Lounge Elite just down the corridor – they have restrooms and self-serve, complimentary food! Stay tuned for my review of that on Friday!!

STEAL OUR LOUNGE

American Express Centurion Lounge Mexico City International Area: Airside, in the International Area. Open daily 5h – 0h. Complimentary drinks. No guaranteed complimentary food. There are two other Centurion Lounges in the Mexico City International Airport, including another one in the International terminal (rumored to be nicer, but it was not close to our gate) and one in the domestic terminal.

In photo #6, we sat in the bar stools when we were there! We didn’t have time to order food so I had a mimosa. I’m bummed I didn’t try any Mexican wine…at 09:00!!

We’ve visited Centurion Lounges in the US, Hong Kong, Mexico and Argentina. Overall, consistency varies a lot. We really enjoyed the one in Hong Kong due to all the space but found the food options sub par. My favorite lounge is the one in Houston because you get a complimentary spa treatment: it was a toss up between a manicure or a 15 minutes massage but I chose the manicure and left the recommend tip.

As for other Centurion Lounges in the US, the food is a lot better than most lounges and they don’t charge for premium drinks but you’re expected to tip in most cases. The issue is now overcrowding though: they don’t let you in if your flight is departing in more than 3 hours and you often have to check-in and come back 15-30 minutes later.